Global We Conversations: Empathy, Connectedness, and Cultural Influence can Drive Urgent Climate Action
“Change begins with one person. Be the first person to do the action and others will follow.”
Jonathan from Rwanda, talking to Uganda.
[Copenhagen, Denmark]: On the eve of COP28, Museum for the United Nations – UN Live (UN Live) and Cortico today revealed crucial insights about how citizens from all over the world think and feel about climate change.
A powerful narrative was extracted from almost 3,000 recorded Global We conversation excerpts between people in 25 portals across the globe. This gave indigenous youth activists in Alaska the opportunity to have conversations with waste pickers in India, musicians in South Africa talked and rap battled with Syrian refugees in a camp in northern Iraq, youth in Gaza expressed their concerns to environmental groups in Jakarta and people in disaster prone Barbados focused on developing mitigating solution ideas together with similar groups in Colombia, to name a few examples.
The analysis of these conversations, all processed through AI tools and deep human listening, clearly demonstrates that if the silent majority had a proper say, the global climate crisis would be guided by empathy, social justice and human well-being rather than technical fixes and economic concerns. Participants in Global We conversations – the largest recorded global climate dialogue - are sending a clear message to decision makers: people are worried, they want immediate action. Individuals directly exposed to the consequences of increasing temperatures, droughts, storms, and floods, want to and can help drive the much-needed change.
“While we may feel stuck with no movement around climate action top down, I think there is a lot we can do and change from bottom up as well.”
Prathijna from India, talking to Indonesia.
“Those who make decisions need to fully understand what it means to be impacted by the climate crisis in their bodies”.
Brandon Ferderer, facilitator from Shared Studios in Egypt, talking to South Africa
“The purpose of the Global We for Climate Action dialogue was to foster empathy, connection, and agency. With the analysis we want to share a fuller understanding of how people think, feel and act when it comes to climate change. It is striking how people across geographies, ages, opinions and level of influence share the same concerns. When they connect, they focus on finding solutions, and discuss what they themselves can do,” said Sasha Rodricks, Global We Director, UN Live.
Top findings
Empathy Sparks Urgency: emotions like caring and empathy are important drivers for participants who also expressed a shared sense of urgency, emphasizing the need for immediate climate action.
A Global We Unites for Action: shared empathy is a powerful driver of climate transformation. The feeling of global belonging – a global we - in a fragmented world creates deep human connection across borders and barriers which fosters engagement and agency.
Culture makes action relevant: popular culture can ignite and fuel climate conversations. Participants forged deeper connections when climate change was linked to subjects close to their hearts, while being universal across locations, such as human well-being, food, art, and music food, art, and music.
“It is interesting how many participants across the globe, independently of each other, suggest tapping into popular culture such as music and movies to educate and encourage people to action,” said Katja Iversen, CEO for UN Live, who will be bringing the findings to COP28, which takes place from Nov. 30 – Dec. 12, 2023 in Dubai. “It is important that decision makers hear these messages from the many and normally unheard voices and must include the perspectives and insights of those most affected by global crisis; it is not only a matter of fairness and justice but also a practical approach to finding the best solutions and driving change - faster.”
“The hip-hop culture is something incredible. It changes lives, a lot of lives. It brings us awareness, empathy, and a sense of transformation and impact. You feel me? It is so huge”.
Dener Marcos Xavier from Brazil, talking to Iraq.
Top Partners
The Global We initiative, supported by the IKEA Foundation and Augustinus Foundation, was delivered in partnership with Shared Studios and Cortico and +20 partner institutions around the world.
Cortico has analysed the Global We dialogue to derive the insights presented today:
"Through Cortico's partnership with Global We as part of their 'Climate Action' initiative, we've been able to leverage our combination of deep human listening and analytics to collect diverse voices and bring them to the forefront of an increasingly urgent climate conversation. What we all learned: no matter the country or direct climate impacts, there is energy and urgency from our youth for a global call to action. Global We's work aims to bridge the gap between decision-makers and individuals whose voices have historically been under heard in the climate dialogue." said Deb Roy, Cortico CEO, Director, MIT Center for Constructive Communication.
Background
The Global We portals connected people in 25 locations across the world from September 2022 to April 2023. The conversations were coordinated by Global We facilitators through dedicated local partners*. Our partners Shared Studios, a human connection company that brings communities around the world together for transformative conversations, led in the setting up of portals in repurposed containers equipped with state-of-the-art tech to transmit audio and video and creating a live-like feeling of being close when talking to each other.
The Global We initiative is moving into its second phase, scaling opportunities to provide many more people with a platform to be heard.
Methodology
25+ facilitators around the world hosted hundreds of local conversations and then used tools and methods developed by the MIT Center for Constructive Communication and introduced by the non-profit Cortico to make sense of these conversations, elevating powerful stories, shared themes, and nuanced trends.
Explore findings on Global We platform: https://globalwe.portal.lvn.org/.
For more information, contact Museum for the United Nations, UN Live:
Annesofie Norn, Lead Curator, UN Live
+45 93 98 80 03 (whatsapp)
The Museum for the United Nations – UN Live is an unconventional, borderless museum, working to connect people everywhere to the work and values of the United Nations and build a world where everyone feels agency to contribute to a positive future for people and planet. Partnering with organizations, influencers, politicians and others who are working for change, UN live is unleashing to power of popular culture and dialogue to inspire and engage people towards a stronger sense of global belonging and positive action.
Cortico is a nonprofit that provides a new conversation platform for listening, understanding, and sharing. In collaboration with MIT’s Center for Constructive Communication, Cortico brings people together in recorded small-group conversations to share life experiences, lift under heard voices, and guide informed action. Their approach combines the ancient wisdoms of human dialogue and listening with the growing analytic and connective power of modern AI and scale of digital networks. The result is a system that captures, at scale, public sentiment with authenticity, nuance, and transparency that surveys and focus groups cannot match.